History
The old road to Tver, changing its course over Middle Ages, settled in its present site in the 16th century. The name Peterburskoye Schosse (Highway) was established when the road was properly paved between 1786 and 1790.
The most important historical building on the road, Gothic Revival Petrovsky Palace, was built in 1776–1780 by Matvey Kazakov as the last station of royal journeys from Saint Petersburg to Moscow. Coaches for lesser classes arrived and departed from Vsekhsvyatskoye village near present-day Sokol metro station.
In 1830s, general Alexander Bashilov, then employed by the Governor of Moscow, planned the first regular grid of city streets north from Petrovsky Palace; two streets in the area still retain Bashilov's name. Territories south of the highway - Khodynka Field - were used mostly for military training. Bashilov also laid down the boulevards along the highway; some of them remain to date. Soon, the beginning of Petersburg Highway turned into an upper-class recreation area, with country restaurants and racetrack (completed in 1883). Smolensky Rail station (forerunner of present-day Belorussky Rail Terminal) was inaugurated in 1870. Between 1882 and 1896, Khodynka housed the national Exhibition of Industry and Arts, later transferred to the Nizhny Novgorod fairground.
In the 1890s-1900s, the highway was gradually urbanized, with factories and residential quarters, ranging from working-class barracks to luxury country homes of the Morozov family, Nikolay Eichenwald and Fyodor Schechtel.
Read more about this topic: Leningradsky Avenue
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